April 12th, 2017.

6:00 a.m. Alex was up again at the crack of dawn. Although there was no need to be this morning. No daycare today. Instead Coffee Aunty is coming to take Chia and Alexander down to Pingtung for Grandfather’s funeral. The funeral is tomorrow but they will stay there the night before as if it was anything like mom’s it will start early about 7a.m. and then different ceremonies all morning until lunchtime or late afternoon when every gathers for a dinner.

I won’t be going. It will be too difficult for me to work in Tainan all day and then return home only to change and head down to Pingtung. It would be intolerable, plus today it’s raining! About time. It’s been hot and dry for too long.

It would also be too expensive to travel there. On my own I would need to take a private bus. There’s no public transport to the area when the grandparents live. The closest train station is several kilometers away and it doesn’t run very much. So a private bus is out of the question. I’m saving my cash for the bullet train next week to pick up mum and dad from the Taoyuan International Airport near Taipei city in northern Taiwan. A bullet train from Kaohsiung to Taipei takes around 90 minutes. It’s cost varies but it’s around $1600NT one way. As fast as a plane when you factor it waiting and boarding and a lot cheaper and convenient. Comparing my travels to the Shinkensen in Japan, Taiwan’s high speed rail (HSR) is on par with them.

430 p.m. 1 on 1 with one of my favorite students. Anli. It’s amazing to watch these little people learn and grow.

6:00 p.m. Last private class for today. Murphy. Today he’s reading “The Wizard of Oz”. Actually it is the exact same edition that I read with Mia ages ago because they both attend the same school in Tainan. Only Mia is one grade higher. So once I go through Mias english lessons I am already prepped for Murphy’s. Nice.